The "Peacekeeper" debuted, and went away quickly, if I remember correctly, in the 1985 - 1987 time frame. Indeed, mine came with Trooper Mk III or Lawman (or something like that ) safety instructions.

I actually had two. The first I gave to my dad so he could get on with law enforcement, and i never had a chance to shoot that one. The second one I did; it had a horrible, and I mean absolutely unuseable, double-action trigger pull. I took it to a gunsmith to lighten it, and he said he did the best he could, but it would end up detonating primers only half the time. I took it out a few years ago and it did better, so it must depend heavily on the ammo. Still, unacceptable. It also had a strange, puke-pink front site ramp insert which was also darn near unuseable; I had a more conventional red rinsert put in.

It was my first, tragic exposure to Colt's piss-poor quality (at least in the modern era). But I will give credit where credit is due. Those are standard Pachmayr grip's from the factory, and they made this gun the best "feeling" handgun straight from the box I've ever owned. It also looks bad-ass in its subdued (phosphate?) finish, uncharacteristic of most revolvers.

The Colt Peacekeeper was a flat black finished Colt Trooper Mark V, which was an upgrade of the Trooper Mark III.
It was built on the "V" frame.

During the big mid-80's strike, Colt didn't have enough polishers working to give the usual bright polished blue finish on everything, so they put what people they did have on the high-end guns like the Python, and introduced a line of revolvers with unpolished bead blasted blue finishes.

These guns were simply unpolished versions of standard polished models and included:
The Peacekeeper version of the Trooper Mark V.
The Commando Special version of the Detective Special.
And unpolished Cobra's and Agent's.

For unknown reasons, Colt didn't assign new names to the Cobra and Agent unpolished models, and as soon as the strike ended, Colt discontinued the unpolished guns.

The guns were fitted and finished inside to the same standard as the bright polished models, and were actually very good buys.
The Peacekeeper was made from 1985 to 1987.

In 1987, the Peacekeeper/Trooper Mark V was fitted with a new profile barrel, made in stainless steel, and sold as the King Cobra.

Yea I had one about 16 years ago. VERY nice trigger but the finish was realy hard on the eyes. They didn't even try to clean up the machine marks on mine. Traded it for a stainless King Cobra. Unfortunatley my Peacekeeper was more accurate than the Cobra. Oh well.

__________________
"if i had to go to a planet, an unknown planet...i want an AK-47. When Western Civilization melts down... I want an AK-47"

This email link is to reach site administrators for assistance, if you cannot access TFL via other means. If you are a TFL member and can access TFL, please do not use this link; instead, use the forums (like Questions, Suggestions, and Tech Support) or PM an appropriate mod or admin.

If you are experiencing difficulties posting in the Buy/Sell/Trade subforums of TFL, please read the "sticky" announcement threads at the top of the applicable subforum. If you still feel you are qualified to post in those subforums, please contact "Shane Tuttle" (the mod for that portion of TFL) via Private Message for assistance.

This email contact address is not an "Ask the Firearms Expert" service. Such emails will be ignored. If you have a firearm related question, please register and post it on the forums.